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Series XVI No. 5 

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES 

IN 

Historical and Political Science 

HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor 



History is past Politics and Politics are present iiislory.—/-'reema?i. 



WEST FLORIDA 

AND ITS RELATION TO THE 

Historical Cartography of the 
United States 

BY 



HENRY E. CHAMBERS, 

Fellow-by- Courtesy of Johns Hopkins University. Sometime Assistant Profes- 
sor, Tulane University 



THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS 

Published Monthly 

MAY, 1898 



U.S.GEOlO(-i 



Rec'd APR '^ 



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JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES 

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HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE. 

Herbert B. Adams, Editor. 



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WEST FLORIDA 

AND ITS RELATION TO THE 

Historical Cartography of the 
United States 




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IIEKHliKT U. ADAMS, hJitor 

History IM l^i'l I'dliln s :iiiil I'lilil i( •. iiic pi cr.ciil Ilislmv. ItffiiKiii. 



WEST FLORIDA 

ANI) MS Kill A I ION Id I III; 

Historical Carlof^raphy ol Ilk- 
Unilcd Slates 

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CONTENTS. 



Introduction. 

I. Some Discrepancies and Contradictions 7 

II. Primary Bases of Divergent Opinions 9 

Part One. 
The Three West Floridas. 

I. Ante-Colonial History. 

Spanish Discovery of Florida 13 

Spanish Exploration of Western Florida 14 

II. French Occupancy. 

La Salle's Exploration of the Mississippi Valley . . 16 

The Colony of Biloxi 17 

French Decadence in Western Florida 18 

III. The First West Florida (British). 

Territorial and Jurisdictional Changes 18 

England's Fourteenth American Colony 19 

IV. The Second West Florida (Spanish). 

British and Spanish Antagonisms 20 

Willing's Raid 21 

Spain Wins Back Her Own 23 

V. The Third West Florida (American). 

Spanish and American Antagonisms 24 

Light-fingering a Province 26 

Louisiana Purchased 27 



Contents. 

V. The Third West Florida (American). Cont'd. 

West Florida Discontent 27 

The First Convention— Redress of Grievances. 28 
The Second Convention— Reorganization .... 31 
The Third Convention — Self-Protection and Inde- 
pendence 31 

Annexation to the United States 33 

V Part Two. 

The Livingston-Madison Theory of West Florida 

Acquirement. 

I. Madison's Acceptance of Livingston's View. 

Original Intent not to Purchase Louisiana 39 

Possible Political Effect of Non-Success in Purchas- 
ing West Florida 40 

IL The Basis of Livingston's Claim : 

The Livingston-Madison Correspondence 41 

Effect of Monroe's Appointment 42 

The Key to Mr. Livingston's Change of Convictions. 43 

in. A Resume of the Successive Jurisdictional Rights 
to the Territory of West Florida : 

Summary of Jurisdictional Changes 47 

Discussion of the Original and Derived Rights to 

West Florida 47 

The St. Ildefonso Treaty 49 

West Florida Not Included in Louisiana Purchase. 50 

The Testimony of Tallyrand 50 

Suggested Cartographical Corrections 51 

Appendix. 

I. West Florida Chronology 53 

II. Bibliography 57 



West Florida and Its Relation to the Historical 
Cartography of the United States. 



INTRODUCTION. 

West Florida, as a political and territorial entity, occu- 
pies an uncertain position in the minds of authoritative con- 
tributors to the history and cartography of the United 
States. For instance, McMasters^ gives Florida as extend- 
ing westward to the Mississippi, while Scribner's Statistical 
Atlas, dividing Florida into east and west, makes the west- 
ern portion extend only as far as the Perdido river.^ Mc- 
Master gives date of Florida's acquirement as 1819; Scrib- 
ner as 1821. 

McCoun's Historical Geography of the United States 
shows West Florida extending to the Pearl river in one 
place ;^ to the Perdido in another,* and indicates in a third 
place that the Floridas are yet Spanish possessions in the 
year 1820.^ Albert Bushnell Hart gives West Florida, after 
the St. Ildefonso treaty, as extending to the Mississippi,^ 
and dates the separate acquirements of East Florida and 
West Florida as 1819 and 1812, respectively.' Justin Win- 
sor gives the claims of the Louisiana purchase as extending 
to the Appalachicola, the only authority within the knowl- 
edge of the present writer that extends the territorial limits 
of colonial Louisiana eastward beyond the Perdido. ' 

' History of the People of the U. S., Vol. 2 (map). 

^ Plates 13, 14 and 15. ^ Map of date 1787. * Map of 1790. 

* Map of 1820. * Formation of the Union Map, No. 4. 

' lb., Map. No. I. ^Nar. and Crit. Hist, of America, Vol. 7, p. 531. 



8 Wesl Florida. [208 

Henry Adams, after a most critical examination of the rec- 
ords bearing upon the Louisiana purchase, makes no inclu- 
sion of the Mississippi-Perdido region. 

B. A. Hinsdale, in his Historical Geography of the Nezv 
World, ^ says: 

"The first Louisiana was the Mississippi Valley, together 
with the country east and west, draining to the Gulf of 
Mexico from the Perdido to the Rio Grande. The second 
Louisiana was the western half of the valley and the island 
of New Orleans. This was the Louisiana purchase of 
'' 1803. * =i= * Long before this time (1763) the found- 
ing of Louisiana by the French had cut Florida short on 
the west of the Perdido river." 

If Florida was cut short at the Perdido river, and the 
Louisiana purchase of 1803 included only the island of 
New Orleans east of the Mississippi, this leaves the terri- 
tory between the Perdido and Mississippi rivers to be ac- 
counted for. 

An examination of fourteen standard and representative 
V school histories of the United States- reveals similar contra- 
dictions and discrepancies. The majority of them give 
Florida as extending to the Perdido river, and include the 
region between the Perdido and the Mississippi in the Lou- 
isiana purchase. Only two^ agree with McMaster. Adams, 
Hinsdale and Hart, in defining the limits of the Louisiana 
purchase as including nothing east of the Mississippi river, 
save the island of New Orleans. 

Other citations might be made, but the foregoing indi- 
cate that a mistiness obscures the region between the Per- 
,/ dido and the Mississippi, historically considered, a misti- 
ness that we look in vain to general historical narratives to 
dispel. 

'How to Study and Teach History (International Educational 
Series, edited by W. T. Harris), page 184. 

^Eclectic, Chambers', Barnes', Shinn's, Scudder's, Johnston's, 
Anderson's, Swinton's, Sheldon's, Cooper's, Mowry's, Montgom- 
ery's, Eggleston's, and Niles'. 

^Chambers' and Sheldon^. 



209] Introduction. 9- 

That the history of West Florida has not been more 
clearly set forth need occasion little surprise. Exploration, 
occupancy, conquest, treaty and revolt, have caused the 
region in question to change ownership and jurisdiction no 
less than six times. Perhaps this can be said of no other 
portion of American soil. Need we wonder, then, that they 
who have pursued with certain tread the broad highway of 
national events, have hesitated to turn aside into a by-path 
of so devious a winding. 

It is the purpose of this paper to point out wherein He 
the causes of these divergencies of opinion and to remove, 
if possible, some of the obscurities which have brought 
about contradictions similar to those given. These causes 
may be reduced in number to two. 

(i) Historians have failed to recognize that in limits and 
political jurisdiction there have existed no fezvcr than three 
separate and distinct West Floridas. 

u The first of these was British West Florida, extending 
north to the parallel drawn through the mouth of the Yazoo 
river, in the present State of Mississippi (32° 28'), and 

Uying between the Chatahoochee and Mississippi rivers. 
Organized in 1763 as a royal province, its boundaries de- 
termined as above in 1767, it constituted for twenty years 
the fourteenth of the English colonial possessions in what 
is now the territory of the United States. 

,.■■ The^cond was Spanish West Florida, constituted with 
the same limits as the above until 1795, when by treaty be- 
tween Spain and the United States its northern extent w^as 
shortened to the parallel 31°, which to this day forms, in 
part, the boundaries of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and 
Louisiana. 

The third was the Independent State of West Florida, of 
short but active existence, whose limits were: on the north, 
the line as given above (31°); the Pearl River, on the east; 
Lakes Borgne, Pontchartrain and Maurepas, and the River 
Iberville, or Bayou Manchac, on the south ; and the Mis- 
sissippi, on the west. 



10 M^esi Florida. [210 

(2) Historians have too readily accepted the dicta of Madi- 
son and Livingston, Secretary of State and Minister to France, 
respectively, when the Louisiana purchase was made, that West 
Florida zvas included in the Louisiana purchase, when the 
weight of historical and contemporary testimony is directly 
opposed to any such inclusion. 

Those who have given this testimony due consideration, 
give Spanish Florida as extending to the Mississippi, but 
fail to agree as to whether the Perdido or the Chatahoochee 
is the dividing line between East and West Florida. Those 
who have accepted Madison and Livingston's theory, fix 
the western boundary of Spanish Florida at the Perdido 
[river and, recognizing that West Florida must be given his- 
torical existence of some kind or other, assign to it the 
narrow limits between the Chatahoochee and the Perdido. 

In our search for the truth we shall consider in brief 
West Florida under a succession of jurisdictions, and then 
endeavor to show the unsoundness of Livingston's and 
Madison's claim that West Florida was included in the 
Louisiana purchase. 



Part I. 

The Three West Floridas. 



Part I. 

THE THREE WEST FLORIDAS. 

I. — Ante-Colonial History. 

The political history of West Florida begins with the 
year 1763, when England, having come into possession of 
the greater part of North America, organized the region 
between the Mississippi and Chatahoochee into a Royal 
Province, and thus added one more to the list of her co- 
lonial possessions within the present limits of the United 
States. 

But back of its political history is a territorial history; 
and as the narrative of an American State is generally pre- 
ceded by some account of the region in which the life and 
institutions of the State have arisen, so will our subject 
be brought into clearer historic view by a brief reference 
to some of the most significant events connected with the 
period of American beginnings. 

The successful termination of the first voyage of Colum- 
bus, bringing, as it did, a knowledge of the existence of the 
New World within the practical comprehension of the na- 
tions of Western Europe, was immediately followed by 
Spanish occupancy of the principal islands of the West 
Indies. 

With Cuba and Jamaica as bases, Spanish exploration 
soon extended to the mainland of North America. In one 
direction went De Leon upon his famous search for the 
fabled island of Bimini, during the course of which he dis- 
covered and named Florida (15 12); in another, Grijalva, 
who reached and explored the coast of Mexico (1518). 

De Leon was followed by De Ayllon, whose expeditions 



14 Wesl Florida. [214 

took him, first, to the coast of what is now South Caro- 
Hna, then called Chicora (1520) and subsequently to the 
Chesapeake Bay. Grijalva was followed by Cortez, whose 
conquest of the Aztec realm constitutes one of the saddest 
of the earlier pages of American history (1520). 

With the exploration of the coast line between Florida 
and Mexico the names of Alonzo de Pineda and Pamfilo 
de Narvaez are most prominently identified. Pineda was 
dispatched by Francis de Garay, governor of Jamaica, with 
a well-equipped expedition to seek out some passage-way 
through the land to the ocean beyond. He skirted the 
coast from Cape Florida to Mexico, touching at various 
points, and taking possession (15 19). Upon his return, he 
is supposed to have discovered and entered the Mississippi 
river, bestowing upon it the name Espiritu Santo. ^ 

Pamfilo de Narvaez, who had been discomfited in his en- 
deavor to wrest from Cortez by force the honor of con- 
quering Mexico, undertook the conquest of Florida (1528). 
His expedition was an ill-fated one, for, after a fruitless 
march into the interior of western Florida, the would-be 
conquerors returned, disappointed, to the coast, constructed 
five frail craft, which they loaded to the gunwale, and pro- 
ceeded slowly to the westward. They, too, are supposed 
to have beheld the mouth of the Mississippi, whose swift 
flowing current wrought havoc to their heavily laden 
boats. A storm did the rest. Eight years afterward, Ca- 
beza de Vaca, Castillo, Dorantes, and a negro arrived in 
the Spanish settlements- of Mexico — sole remnant of the 
six hundred that had set out with De Narvaez. They had 
made their way overland to the Pacific, and then south- 
ward to their compatriots. 

With a large and carefully selected body of men, Her- 
nando De Sota landed at Tampa Bay (1539), bent upon 
accomplishing what De Narvaez had failed to do. The 

^ Winsor : Narrative and Critical History, Vol. 2, p. 237. 
^Winsor : Narrative and Critical History, Vol. 2, p. 245. 



215] Ante- Colonial History. 15 

story of his memorable march has often been told. It is a 
tale of dogged determination of purpose on the part of the 
commander, of unswerving loyalty on the part of his men. 
It is a narrative of endurance, courage, and fortitude, of 
disaster, pathos, and tragedy. 

North, to the mountains of North Georgia; southwest, 
through the length of Alabama to the Indian town of Mau- 
villa,^ where was waged their greatest battle; north-west- 
ward, diagonally across the present State of Mississippi, they 
made their way, the journey a series of harassings and 
savage baitings whose chronicle finds fit place among the 
nightmares of history. The Mississippi river was crossed 
a little below the site upon which now stands Memphis. It 
is probable that the Missouri line was reached before the 
invaders undertook to return. Slowly they made their way 
southward, their number lessening day by day. Soon they 
reached what is now north-eastern Louisiana. Here, amid 
the glooms of swamp and river bottoms, beset by vengeful 
foes, a remnant of the band gathered about their leader. 
Stubborn old soldier that he was, nothing but death could 
overcome him, and here it was that he succumbed. In the 
dead of night his body found a watery sepulchre in the river 
whose waters he had crossed in the fullness of his strengths 
His companions, reduced in number, eventually made their 
way by river and gulf to Mexico. 

Thus it will be seen that through the explorations of De 
Leon, De Ayllon, De Narvaez, and De Sota the territorial 
claims of Spain reached north-westward from Florida into 
the heart of the American continent. From Mexico they 
extended north and north-eastward. 

Spain maintained her right to these territorial claims in 
1565, when Melendez de Aviles destroyed the Huguenot 
settlement in north-east Florida, and built St. Augustine, 
and this right went unquestioned until the year 1699. 

* Near Mobile. 



16 Wesi Florida. [216 

II. — French Occupancy. 

In the sixty years following the founding of Quebec 
(1608), the forerunners of French civilization in America 
reached the region about the shores of the great lakes. 
Among the first to come to the hither side and enter what 
is now the territory of the United States were Nicollet, 
Marquette, Joliet, Allouez, Hennepin, Du Luth Tonti, La 
Salle, and others, whose names are made familiar to us in 
the chronicles of earlier explorations. 

From their Indian friends, the pioneers of New France 
learned of the great western river flowing southward, now 
known as the Mississippi. Marquette and Joliet made their 
way to this river through the wilds of what is now Wiscon- 
sin, and descended as far as the mouth of the Arkansas 
(1673). They were followed by La Salle, who with his 
faithful companion, Tonti, explored the Mississippi to its 
mouth, taking possession of the whole territory watered by 
it and its tributaries in the name of Louis XIV King of 
France (April 9, 1682). Here is where the name Louisiana 
first appears upon the map, and a claim to a part of the 
shore of the Gulf of Mexico is set up counter to the claims 
of Spain. 

La Salle, setting out from France, made an inefifectual 
attempt to reach the mouth of the Mississippi, for the 
purpose of planting a colony upon its banks. Tonti de- 
scended from Canada, to co-operate with his chief; and, 
failing to meet La Salle, established Arkansas Post (1686), 
the oldest settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley. 

France's further plans of colonization were held in abey- 
ance during the war of the English Succession.^ But no 
sooner had the w^ar ended (1697) than they were put into 
execution. • Here comes upon the scene Pierre Lemoyne, 
Sieur d'lberville. The period of American beginnings has 
no more heroic a figure. Iberville was a Canadian by birth, 

^ In America known as King William's War. 



217 French Ocaipancy. 17 

one of eleven brothers, all of whom attained distinction in 
the service of king and country. As a naval officer of 
France in the w^ar just closed, he had taught the English 
several lessons in the art of naval warfare, and had given 
them some forcible reminders that their boasted superiority 
on sea was not as yet clearly established.^ 

Iberville sailed from Brest (1698) with a company of col- 
onists. Entering the Gulf of Mexico, he directed the course 
of his vessels to the magnificent harbor of Pensacola, of 
which he had learned. But behold, he finds himself fore- 
stalled by the Spaniards, who, anticipating the coming of 
the French and determined to hold by occupancy what was 
Spain's by right of discovery and exploration, had only 
a month previous established themselves at Pensacola. 

It was only by the subterfuge of concealing the real ob- 
ject of his expedition that Iberville was permitted to pro- 
ceed without protest on the part of the Spaniards.^ Pro- 
ceeding westward, he touched at Mobile bay, explored the 
islands which skirt Mississippi sound, and finally effected 
a landing near what is now the town of Ocean Springs, 
Miss. (1699). The settlement was called Biloxi, after a 
neighboring tribe of Indians. Here the first seat of gov- 
ernment of lower Louisiana was established, and the Sieur 
Sauvolle was appointed the first governor. 

The Spaniards, in their estabHshment of missions, were 
making their way up from Mexico. Already the English 
influence was reaching from the Atlantic seaboard and af- 
fecting the Chickasaws and other Indian tribes within the 
limits of the French claim. 

To combat the one and counteract the other, a post was 
established on Red River, near the present town of Natch- 
itoches, La. (1714), and another. Fort Rosalie, near the 
present town of Natchez, Miss. (1716), Finally, realizing 
that lower Louisiana could never be firmly held and the full 

'See Gayarr6 : Hist, of La., Vol. i, chap. 2. 
^ King and Ficklin's Hist, of La., page 30. 



18 West Florida. [218 

control of the Mississippi be assured unless the center of 
French colonization was moved to the banks of that 
stream, New Orleans was founded (1718), and shortly after 
made the seat of government. 

With the founding of New Orleans, the French settle- 
ments along the gulf, or West Florida coast, pass histori- 
cally into obscurity. After sixty-four years of French oc- 
cupation, West Florida at the time of the treaty of 1763 
contained less than five hundred people, including slaves.^ 
In subsequent years it was left to a historian^ to recall the 
fact that there ever was a time that Louisiana, "as France 
possessed it," extended along the shores of the Gulf of 
Mexico as far as Mobile. 

III. — The First West Florida (British). 

When the "Old French War" drew to a close, and the 
contest for supremacy in America was decided in favor of 
the English, France was compelled to relinquish all her 
territorial possessions on the continent of America. To 
Spain, who had been her suffering ally in this war,"* she gave 
the island of New Orleans* and that part of Louisiana lying 
west of the Mississippi. To England she ceded that part 
of Louisiana lying east of the Mississippi. England 
also received Florida of Spain , making the English 
possessions in what is now the territory of the United 
States, extend from the Atlantic, on the east, to the Miss- 
issippi, on the west; and from the great lakes, on the north, 
to Lakes Maurepas, Pontchartrain, and Borgne, and the 
Gulf of Mexico, on the south. 

^ Lowry and McCardle : Hist, of Miss., p. 47. 

^ Marbois. 

^Duruy: Hist, of France, p. 501. 

* The island of New Orleans lay upon the east bank of the Missis- 
sippi, and extended from the mouth of that river up as far as Bayou 
Manchac, or Iberville river, a stream a little distance south of Baton 
Rouge, connecting the Mississippi with Lake Maurepas. The Bayou 
no longer exists, having been filled up. 



219] The First West Florida. 19 

Spain manifested some reluctance in extending her jur- 
isdiction over the ceded province. The treaty was con- 
cluded in 1763, and not until 1766 did she show any intent 
to take formal possession.^ Indeed, it was not until 1769 
that the transfer from France to Spain was formally de- 
clared and consummated. 

On the other hand, England acted very promptly in oc- 
cupying her part of the cession. The treaty of cession was 
concluded Feb. jO; 1763, and before the year was out, by 
proclamation of King George III, Florida was divided, the 
boundaries of the eastern and western portion established, 
and Captain George Johnstone, a distinguished naval offi- 
cer, installed as first governor of the British Royal Prov- 
ince of West Florida. 

The claims of Georgia extending westward to the Miss- 
issippi, it was at first intended that the northern boundary 
of West Florida should be fixed at the 31st parallel of lat- 
itude, but the difficulty of communication between the east 
and west in the latitude of Georgia, and the necessity of 
having a seat of government convenient to the people, who 
were already entering and taking up their residence in the 
fertile lands about the Yazoo and other streams, caused the 
northern limit of West Florida to be extended northward 
to the line of 32° 28' (1767), which extension was embodied 
in the commission of John Elliot, who succeeded Johnstone 
as governor.^ 

The eastern boundary of British West Florida was the 
Chattahoochee and Appalachicola rivers; the western, the 
Mississippi. On the south were the Gulf of Mexico, Miss- 
issippi sound, Lakes Borgne, Pontchartrain, and Maure- 
pas ; and Bayou Manchac separating West Florida from the 

^ In 1766, Don Antonio de Ulloa was sent to govern Louisiana, but, 
ahhough he remained in the colony two years or more, he exhibited 
no credentials and failed to assume any of the duties of his office. 
In 1769, Don Alexander O'Reilly arrived and took formal possession 
for Spain. 

^Lowry and McCardle : Hist, of Miss., p. 48. 



20 Wesi Florida. [220 

Isle of Orleans to the southward. The seat of government 
was established at Pensacola. Fort Conde, near Mobile Bay, 
was changed to Fort Charlotte; Fort Rosalie (Natchez), 
to Fort Panmure. A new fort was established and gar- 
risoned at the junction of Bayou Manchac and the Miss- 
issippi river, and was called Fort Bute. Bute and Panmure 
were two administration notables during the reign of 
George III. the king of England at that time. 

A wonderful impetus was given to the West Florida col- 
ony when power was bestowed upon Governor Johnstone 
to make free grants of land to every retired officer and 
soldier who had served England in the French and Indian 
war. A field officer was entitled to 5000 acres, a captain to 
3000, and so on- down to a private, whose portion was 100 
acres. 

In the twenty years that West Florida was a British pos- 
session French influences and trends of development were 
rooted out and the province was made thoroughly English 
in character. The three English governors of British West 
Florida were Johnstone and Elliot, already mentioned, and 
Peter Chester. Johnstone was appointed in 1763; Elliot in 
1766, and Peter Chester in 1770.^ It was during Chester's 
incumbency that some of the most remarkable events con- 
nected with West Florida history took place. 

IV. — The Second West Florida (Spanish). 

The attitude of Spanish Louisiana toward British West 
Florida was one of jealousy and mistrust. The British were 
discouraged in every way from opening commercial rela- 
tions with their Louisiana neighbors. Nevertheless, an ex- 



^ Lowry and McCardle's History of Mississippi gives the dates as 
1763, 1767 and 1771. Beatson's Political Index to the Histories of 
Great Britain and Ireland ; or, a Complete Register of the Hereditary 
Honours, Public Officers and Persons in Office, from the Earliest 
Periods to the Present Time, published in London, in 1788, from 
which have been taken the above, may be considered authoritative. 



[221' The Second West Florida. 21 

tensive, though surreptitious/ trade was developed that 
augured great prosperity to West Florida. As the war of 
the American Revolution approached, the same instinct 
which impelled emigration across the AUeghanies to Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky and Ohio, caused West Florida to re- 
ceive its share of English-speaking pioneers. The American 
element of population thus introduced was decidedly a Tory 
■element, but not one given to aggressiveness, being content 
to occupy a position of neutrality in the contest between 
England and her American colonies. West Florida was so 
far away from the scene of action, that she well may have 
remained undisturbed but for the fact of Spanish antag- 
onism against things British. Between the revolting 
American colonies and England the Spanish authorities 
manifested a decided leaning toward the former. 

This favoring of the American colonies against the En- 
glish first took the form of permitting Oliver Pollock, the 
secret agent of the Continental Congress, to gather stores 
and munitions of war at New Orleans, and forward them 
by river to Fort Pitt (Pittsburg). Indeed, the idea of an 
American expedition down the Ohio and Mississippi for 
the purpose of attacking the British of West Florida was a 
subject of correspondence between Captain George Mor- 
gan, in command at Pittsburg, and Governor Galvez of 
Louisiana. 

When Pollock descended the Mississippi to establish 
himself in New Orleans, there came with him an adventurer 
of brutal instincts but gentlemanly appearance, in the per- 
son of James Willing. 

"Willing," says Martin,^ "visited the British settlements 
on the Mississippi, and some of his companions crossed the 
lakes to Mobile, with a view to induce the inhabitants to 
raise the striped banner, and join their countrymen in the 
struggle for freedom The people of both the Floridas re- 

^ See Gayarr^ : History of Louisiana, Vol. 3, p. 45. 
^ History of Louisiana, p. 223. 



22 PVesi Florida. [222 

mained steadfast in their attachment to the royal cause. 
The thin and sparse population of the Floridas, their dist- 
ance from the provinces engaged in the war, and the con- 
sequent difificulty of receiving assistance from them, had 
also its influence on the conduct of the inhabitants." 

Willing was hospitably entertained at Baton Rouge, 
Natchez, and other points visited. No one suspected that 
a plot against the well-being of his entertainers was shaping 
itself in his mind. He returned to Pennsylvania, and upon 
his representation that the neutrality of West Florida was 
highly important to the American cause, as removing an 
enemy from the rear and permitting the free passage of 
munitions of war, he received from Congress, then sitting 
at Lancaster, Pa., authority to move in the matter of se- 
curing this neutrality. 

Returning to Natchez with an armed retinue, he found 
it no difficult matter to prevail upon many to take an oath 
of neutrality. Upon one pretext or another. Willing now 
entered upon a career of confiscation, robbery and cruelty. 
The very homes in which he had been a favored guest suf- 
fered most.^ Many unfortunates, bereft of their all, were 
compelled to take refuge across the river among the un- 
friendly, but less cruel, Louisianians. But for this cruel, 
wanton, unprovoked, conduct toward a helpless community, 
West Florida might have been won over to the American 
cause, the royal governor at Pensacola being too far distant 
to interpose any active opposition either against Willing's 
raids or against any action the West Floridians near the 
Mississippi might have taken toward co-operating with the 
thirteen other colonies of Great Britain. So West Florida 
was overrun and ravaged in the war of the American 
Revolution, as were the Atlantic seaboard colonies; and if 
the Carolinas had a bloody Tarleton to ignore the usages 
of civilized warfare. West Florida had a brute Willing, to 



^A Memento of Willing's Raid, New Orleans Times- Democrat, 
Feb. 25, 1894. 



223] The Second West Florida. 23 

garb himself in a cloak of patriotism as a studied excuse 
for license and crime. 

In 1777, France espoused the cause of the American col- 
onies, and formed an alliance with them against England. 
Perceiving a possibility of winning back the much coveted 
fortress of Gibraltar, Spain shortly after allied herself with 
France, and was soon actively engaged in hostilities against 
England (1779). 

The Spanish province of Louisiana had for its governor 
at the time Spain declared war, Don Bernard de Galvez, 
who, but a youth in years, left a deep impression upon his 
times and surroundings by his intrepidity and genius. 
When news reached Louisiana of Spain's declaration of 
war, Galvez promptly took upon himself the task of con- 
quering West Florida.^ With a force of 1400 men, he 
marched northward from New Orleans, and, arriving at 
Bayou Manchac, stormed and captured Fort Bute. Ad- 
vancing upon Baton Rouge, he invested the place, and, 
after a hot engagement lasting two hours, compelled Col- 
onel Dickinson with 500 men to surrender. His next un- 
dertaking was against Mobile, which surrendered March 
14, 1780. 

It is needless to say that the achievements of Galvez 
were viewed with great satisfaction in both America and 
Spain. General Washington sent a letter of congratulation 
from his winter quarters at Morristown, N. J.^ Every en- 
couragement was now extended to Galvez to continue his 
operations. Ships and men were furnished him, and from 
Havana he set out for Pensacola to attack the British capital 
and stronghold. At Pensacola he was joined by Miro, from 
New Orleans, and Espelleta, from Mobile. The personal 
bravery of the young commander was an important factor 
in all his military successes, and never was this better veri- 

^ An original print of the royal proclamation authorizing the Spanish 
colonists to proceed against their EngHsh neighbors is in the posses- 
sion of Mr. H. L. Favrot, of the New Orleans bar. 

''Washington to Don Juan Miralles, Feb. 27, 1780. 



24 IVesi Florida. [224 

fied than in his attack upon Pensacola. The fort was taken, 
and with its fall the Floridas, West and East, by right of 
conquest, which right was afterward confirmed by the 
treaty of 1783, became Spanish territory again,^ and once 
more by occupancy and possession did she hold what had 
once been hers by discovery and exploration. 

Many honors were bestowed upon Galvez. He was com- 
missioned a Lieutenant-General, decorated with the cross 
of Knight Pensioner, and made a Count. He was ap- 
pointed, successively. Governor of Louisiana; Captain- 
General of Louisiana and Florida; Governor-General of 
Cuba, the Floridas and Louisiana ; and Viceroy of Mexico. 
With a record achieved by few of his years, he died at the 
comparatively early age of thirty-eight. His several com- 
missions define sharply the distinction existing in the Span- 
ish mind between Louisiana and the Floridas. According 
I to Spanish conception. West Florida was not Louisiana, 
' but a separate province, conquered by force of arms, an 
integral unit among the units which collectively constituted 
Spain's colonial possessions in the Western World. 

V. — The Third West Florida (Independent 
State). 

The establishment of the Federal Government followed 
the successful termination of the American Revolution. 
The relations between the newly organized government 
and the Spanish authorities of Louisiana were by no means 
harmonious. The boundary line between the Floridas and 
the United States was in dispute.^ Spanish intrigue was 

^ Lecky : History of England in the Eighteenth Century, p. 171. 

•^ Spain claimed the 32° 28' line, proclaimed by Great Britain in 
1767, as the northern boundary of West Florida. The United States 
insisted upon parallel 31°, the boundary as originally fixed before the 
Natchez district was annexed. The treaty of Madrid, Oct. 27, 1795, 
confirmed the latter. (See VVinsor's Nar. and Crit. Hist., Vol. 7, 
P- 543-) 



:225] The Third West Florida. 25 

fomenting among the settlers of the Ohio Valley a spirit 
of discontent against the government of the United States. 
The Spanish authorities of Louisiana had in view the an- 
nexation of the territory in which this discontent was man- 
ifesting itself. 

The produce of the western settlers in those days, when 
the bars of the Alleghanies had not yet been removed by 
locomotive and canal boat, could only reach a profitable 
market by way of the Mississippi. While the mouth of this 
river was under Spanish control, western American com- 
merce depended in large part upon the complacency of the 
^Spanish governor at New Orleans. Sometimes river navi- 
gation was prohibited to the Americans; at other times it 
was grudgingly conceded, and that in a manner thoroughly 
unsatisfactory to those whose material prosperity depended 
upon this free use of nature's route to the sea. 

Thus it was that the United States, in conformity with its 
leading purpose "to promote the general welfare," found 
it incumbent upon itself to secure a commercial depot near 
the mouth of the river. Either the island of New Orleans 
or West Florida would answer the purpose. Moreover, a 
number of other rivers rising in the territory of the United 
States make their way through Florida to the Gulf of 
Mexico. With the necessity of having a depot site near the •• 
mouth of the Mississippi came also the realization that con- 
trol of the mouths of these other rivers would be of great 
future importance to the United States. The idea of ac- 
quiring the Floridas rapidly took shape. Indeed, the value 
of the Floridas to the United States was regarded as infin- 
itely greater than trans-Mississippi Louisiana. The island 
of New Orleans, however, out- valued the Floridas; and the 
instructions which went to Europe, specified that New Or- 
leans and West Florida, in particular, were to be nego- 
tiated for.^ 

' In letter of March 2, 1803, to Monroe and Livingston, Secretary of 
State Madison stipulated that the Floridas together were to be 
estimated at one-fourth the value of New Orleans ; and, East Florida 
at one-half of the value of West Florida. 



26 I Vest Florida. [226- 

Meanwhile, Napoleon Bonaparte had come to be the 
most conspicuous figure in Europe; and one of the moves 
made by him upon the chess board of European poHtics was 
to compel Spain to cede Louisiana back to France. The 
cession was made by secret treaty/ for Napoleon was not 
then in position to hold by force of arms the re-acquired 
province against the enemies of France, who were all too 
ready to invade distant French possessions. 

However polite and wordily affectionate was the lan- 
guage of diplomacy employed by the two governments 
upon the occasion of the treaty, historians recognize the 
fact that the transaction was purely and simply a case of 
"stand and deliver" on one side, and reluctant yielding on 
the other. True, two concessions were made the reluctant 
party — one expressed in the treaty and the other under- 
stood.^ One was that the Duke of Parma would be raised 
to a position among the crowned heads of Europe, by Na- 
poleon's power and influence. The other was that France 
would never part with Spain's extorted gift unless it be to 
return it to the donor. Neither of these pledges did Na- 
poleon fulfill; and as that one in regard to the Duke of 
Parma was a stipulated consideration in return for Louisi- 
ana, non-fulfilment of the contract on the part of one, ac- 
cording to the moral, as well as the common, law, cancelled 
the obligation of the other. When the United States pur- 
chased Louisiana, it acquired a vitiated title, which, if Spain 
had been at the zenith of her power, would never have been 
made good. 

Numerous surmises have been advanced regarding Napo- 
leon's motives in acquiring Louisiana. It is reasonable to 
suppose that he had in view the rehabilitating of French 
prestige in America. With the St. Ildefonso treaty as prece- 
dent, the cession of Mexico and the Floridas could easily 

^ Treaty of Ildefonso, Oct. 27, 1800. 

'June 19, 1802, Tallyrand pledges by letter to Spain that France 
will never alienate Louisiana. (See Henry Adams : Hist, of the U. 
S. during Jefferson's Administration, Vol. i, p. 400.) 



227] The Third West Florida. 27 

be brought about if once the sea of European politics would 
settle down into tranquility and the French ship of State 
be brought to anchor in smooth waters. 

But war clouds again lowered, and the loss of Louisiana 
was threatened. Livingston and Monroe, who were to 
purchase a modest depot site, found the whole province of 
Louisiana offered them. Acceptance of the offer and con- 
summation of the transfer of the Province of Louisiana to 
the United States will be found treated of elsewhere. Suf- 
fice it to say, that on Nov. 30, 1803, Commissioner Laus- 
sat, on the part of France, received the territory, secretly 
ceded three years previously, from the Spanish Commis- 
sioner Casa Calvo, and twenty days after (Dec. 20, 1803),. 
Governor Claiborne, of the Mississippi Territory, and Gen- 
eral James Wilkinson, on the part of the United States, re- 
ceived the territory from Laussat, the ceremonies of transfer 
taking place in the city of New Orleans. 

Thus were the Spanish possessions about the northern, 
shores of the Gulf of Mexico again split into two parts by 
the Louisiana wedge On one side was Mexico; on the 
other side were the Floridas. It was left to years of di- 
plomacy to determine exactly what the boundaries should 
be between the American purchase and the Spanish pos- 
sessions, and it was not until 1819 that an amicable adjust- 
ment was reached. 

The year 1803, which saw Louisiana and the island of 
New Orleans transferred to the United States, saw also 
Governor Folch, with headquarters at Pensacola, exercis- 
ing jurisdiction over all Florida. De Grandpre was the 
military commander of the District of Baton Rouge, re- 
maining as such until 1807 or 1808, when he was succeeded 
by Don Carlos Dehault de Lassus. 

It had been a great disappointment to the English- 
speaking population of West Florida, that the region in- [ 
habited by them had not been included in the transfer of/ ^^-^-* 
Louisiana to the United States. To the north of them was} <^:^ /-l.^ 
the Mississippi Territory, organized in 1798, in which a 



28 West Florida. [228 

less restraining, yet more stable, form of government stood 
in contrast to that under which they were governed. The 
rich lands about Baton Rouge, had induced many from the 
Mississippi Territory to cross, with some hesitation, how- 
ever, the line of demarkation, and take up their abode under 
a jurisdiction distasteful to them. Antagonism between 
the more favored Spanish subjects and the less favored 
English-speaking immigrants was the inevitable result. 
Complications in regard to smuggling and runaway slaves 
arose, as they did at the other, or Georgia, end of the 
Florida boundary line. The policy of De Lassus was vac- 
illating; his character, weak. Innumerable causes of dis- 
satisfaction were afforded every day by corrupt officials and 
lax methods of suppressing crime. Spain, being so far away 
and engrossed with her own affairs at that particular time, 
it was beyond question to refer grievances to other than 
prejudiced local tribunals. In the midst of this general un- 
rest and discontent, intimation came that Bonaparte 
claimed West Florida, and would soon take possession. 

The West Floridians preferred the jurisdiction of the 
United States. They were tolerant of and submissive to 
Spanish rule when based upon any semblance of right and 
upon some consideration of their interests; but the idea 
of being dominated by France inspired them with such 

I distaste that they were aroused to action. 

A convention was proposed by citizens of Feliciana, and 
the proposition was generally responded to by the other citi- 

. zens of the Districts. Delegates were elected, and the con- 
. ^ \j I vention met in open air at Buhler's Plains, July 17, 1810. 

' John Mills presided, and Dr. Steele acted as secretary. A 
general desire to appeal for annexation to the United States 
seemed at first to animate this convention. But unswerv- 
ing allegiance to Spain, as against any effort of France to 
take possession, was set forth by formal resolutions.^ 

^ "We, therefore, the people of West Florida, exercising the rights 
which incontestably devolve upon us, declare that we owe no allegi- 



229] The Third West Florida. 29^ 

Committees waited upon Governor De Lassus, to con- 
vey to him the result of the deliberations of this conven- 
tion, and to present to him memorials relative to the reor- 
ganization of the West Florida government. This reor- 
ganization was in no way to jeopardize the sovereignty 
of Ferdinand VII over the province, and to De Lassus 
himself was pledged the new governorship proposed.^ 

De Lassus apparently acquiesced in the proposed re- 
forms, and another convention assembled, August 22, and ! 
continued in session to August 25. John Rhea presided. / 
The sub-districts, or precincts, represented were New Fel- 
iciana, St. Helena, Baton Rouge, and St. Ferdinand. The 
organization of the new government was effected. De 
Lassus was elected Governor ; judges and "civil command- 
ers" were appointed ; Philemon Thomas was made colonel, 
commanding all militia of the district. The convention 
seems to have acted in a constitutional and sovereign ca- 
pacity. The proclamation announcing the organization 
of the new government was made August 22, addressed 
to the inhabitants of the jurisdiction of Baton Rouge, and 
signed by De Lassus, "Colonel of the Royal Armies, and 

ance to the present ruler of the French nation, or to any king, prince 
or sovereign, who may be placed by him on the throne of Spain, and 
we will always, and by all means in our power, resist any tyrannical 
usurpation over us of whatever kind, or by whomsoever the same 
may be attempted, and in order to more effectually preserve the 
domestic tranquillity and secure for ourselves the blessings of peace 
and the impartial administration of justice, we propose the follow- 
ing. ' ' Then comes a series of thirteen articles, which might be termed 
a projected constitution. (Publication of the Louisiana Historical 
Association, Vol. i, part 11, p. 42.) 

^ " They wanted peace and the proper administration of justice. 
. . . Their address closes by forcibly reminding his Excellency of 
the necessity for a strong militia, well organized, well equipped, and 
well officered, to insure for the country complete exemption from 
anarchy and turmoil, and to lend force and dignity to their laws." 
H. L. Favrot : " Some Account of the Causes that Brought About 
the West Florida Revolution " (compiled from MS. sources and pub- 
lished in Part 11 of the Louisiana Historical Society Publication). 



\/ v» 



30 IVesi Florida. [230 

Governor, Civil and Military of the Place, and Jurisdiction 
of Baton Rouge," and "the representatives of the people 
of said jurisdiction in convention assembled."^ 

Before a month elapsed it was found that the acquies- 
cence of De Lassus was a pretended one, and that his real 
.purpose was treachery. Correspondence, intercepted by 
Colonel Thomas, revealed the fact that De Lassus was 
pressing upon Folch at Pensacola the necessity of sending 
\ to Baton Rouge a large force to quell an insurrection "of 
his Catholic Majesty's subjects" then in progress. He 
urged that Folch march to the scene in person and that 
he summon assistance from Cuba, as the insurgents were 
"desperate and determined." 

Upon discovery of the Governor's treacherous plans, 
Colonel Thomas immediately consulted with the leaders 
of the recent movement. It was decided to raise the banner 

^ " Zi? the Inhabitants of the Jurisdiction of Baton Rouge : 

"His Excellency, Carlos Dehault DeLassus, Colonel of the 
Royal Armies and Governor Civil and Military of the Place and 
Jurisdiction of Baton Rouge, with the representatives of the people 
of the said jurisdiction, in convention assembled, announce : 

"That the measures proposed to be adopted for the public safety 
and for the better administration of justice within the said jurisdiction, 
are sanctioned and established as ordinances, to have the force and 
authority of law, within the several districts of this jurisdiction, until 
the same be submitted to the Captain-General of the island of Cuba, 
and until his decision thereon shall be known. The said ordinances 
will be made known in each district with all possible dispatch, and in 
the meantime all the good people of this jurisdiction are required to 
preserve good order and avoid every movement which may disturb 
the public tranquillity — it being the only object of both the Governor 
and the representatives to consult the best interests of the nihabi- 
tants. And although it is not intended to mark with severity the 
authors of the disorder which has appeared in several parts of the 
country for some time past, yet all such persons as may be found 
oflfending in that manner, after this date, will be punished with the 
severity which the law prescribes and which their offences may 
deserve. 

" Baton Rouge, August 22, 1810." 

(Louisiana Historical Society Papers, part 11, pp. 44-45.) 



231] The Third West Florida. 31 

of open revolt and declare West Florida a free and inde- 
pendent State. A convention was held. Independence was 
declared (Sept. 26, 1810)/ and a new government under 
Fulwar Skipwith, as governor, was instituted. 



^ " By the Representatives of the people of West Florida, in conven- 
tion assembled : 

"a declaration. 

" It is known to the world with how much fidelity' the good people 
of this Territory have professed and maintained allegiance to their 
legitimate sovereign, while any hope remained of receiving from him 
protection for their property and their lives. 

" Without making any unnecessary innovation in the established 
principles of the government, we had voluntarily adopted certain regu- 
lations, in concert with our First Magistrate, for the express purpose 
of preserving this Territory, and showing our attachment to the 
government which had heretofore protected us. This compact 
which was entered into with good faith on our part, will forever 
remain an honorable testimony of our upright intentions and invio- 
lable fidelity to our king and parent country, while so much as a 
shadow of legitimate authority remained to be exercised over us. 
We sought only a speedy remedy for such evils as seemed to endan- 
ger our existence and prosperity, and were encouraged by our Gov- 
ernor with solemn promises of assistance and co-operation. But 
those measures, which were intended for our preservation, he has 
endeavored to pervert into an engine of destruction, by encouraging 
in the most perfidious manner, the violation of ordinances sanctioned 
and established by himself as the law of the land. 

" Being thus left without any hope of protection from the mother 
country, betrayed by the magistrate whose duty it was to have pro- 
vided for the safety and tranquillity of the people and government 
committed to his charge, and exposed to all the evils of a state of 
anarchy, which we have so long endeavored to avert, it becomes our 
duty to provide for our own security, as a free and independent state, 
absolved from all allegiance to a government which no longer pro- 
tects us. 

"We, therefore, the representatives aforesaid, appealing to the 
Supreme Ruler of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do 
solemnly publish and declare the several districts composing this 
Territory of West Florida to be a free and independetit State ; and 
that they have a right to institute for themselves such form of govern- 
ment as they may think conducive to their safety and happiness ; to 
form treaties ; to establish commerce ; to provide for their com- 



32 Wt'si Florida. [232 

Meanwhile Thomas and the militia were engaged in 
taking forcible possession of Spanish military defenses. 
According to some accounts, De Lassus had absented him- 
self from his post and left in command young Louis de 
Grandpre, grandson of Carlos de Grandpre, former gov- 
ernor, but in reality he was within the fort, tradition says, 
in hiding, and it was because of his cowardice that his 
young lieutenant assumed charge of the defenses. 

Grandpre was besieged in Baton Rouge, and after a 
gallant and stubborn resistance, in which he lost his life, 
the post surrendered to the forces of the convention. 

Thus was the birth of a new American State proclaimed, 
and thus did a people wrest from a potentate their liberty 
and independence. In order to better continue in the en- 
joyment of these acquired privileges, application was made 
for admission into the Union. A copy of the "declaration" 
was forwarded to the President of the United States, 
through Governor Holmes of the Mississippi Territory, 

mon defence ; and to do all acts which may, of right, be done by a 
sovereign and independent nation ; at the same time declaring all 
acts, within the said Territory of West Florida, after this date, by 
any tribunals or authorities not deriving their powers from the peo- 
ple, agreeably to the provisions established by this Convention, to be 
null and void ; and calling upon all foreign nations to respect this 
declaration, acknowledging our independence, and giving us such 
aid as may be consistent with the laws and usages of nations." 
(Gayarr^ : Hist, of La., Vol. 2, pp. 231-233.) 

Gayarr^ finds it strange that in this document of the revolters, 
allusion is made to the " fidehty with which they had professed and 
maintained allegiance to their legitimate sovereign," and to their 
solicitude to proclaim that " they had not taken arms against the 
king." (Hist, of La., Vol. 4, p. 231.) He seems not to have had 
access to data concerning the previous uprising of the West Floridians, 
in which they declared their continued allegiance to the king, and 
had in view only the bettering of the government and stricter admin- 
istration of justice, while continuing the Spanish governor, DeLassus, 
in office. This is what the declarers meant in alluding to their past 
loyalty — that their former movement had not been insurrectionary. 
With their present movement they did not couple their expressions 
of loyalty. 



233] The Third West Florida. 33 

and Rhea, writing under date of October lo, opened com- 
munication with the Secretary of State at Washington, with 
a view to either admission or annexation. Inasmuch as the 
inhabitants had risked both blood and treasure in the ac- 
quirement of the territory, it was sought to reserve the 
pubHc lands to their exclusive benefit/ October 27, Presi- 
dent Madison issued his proclamation declaring West 
Florida under the jurisdiction of the United States. Gov- 
ernor Claiborne of Orleans Territory was ordered to take 
possession, and, repairing to Natchez, he organized a small 
force of mounted milita, entered West Florida, and at St, 
Francisville, one of the principal towns of the Territory, 
raised the flag of the United States. No opposition was 
encountered. 

The beginning of the "Free and Independent State of 
West Florida" dates with the assembling of the convention, 
September 23, 1810; and its career terminates with the 
raising of the flag of the United States at St. Francisville, 
December 6, of the same year. Yet brief as was this career, 
it was nevertheless active. When the Spanish authorities 
of Baton Rouge were deposed, it was anticipated that Gov- 
ernor Folch would attempt to interfere with the organiza- 
tion of the little republic. So the convention posted a line 
of sentinels along the banks of the Pearl river, the eastern 
boundary of the part of West Florida in revolt. The main- 
tenance of this line was found to be an uncertain and ex- 
pensive means of safety against attack. It was determined 
to settle the matter at once by a resort to arms. War was 
declared against Mobile. An expedition under the com- 
mand of Colonel Reuben Kemper^ made its way to the 



^ The claim of the West Floridians to their public domain was 
rejected upon the theory that West Florida already belonged to the 
United States as a part of the Louisiana Territory purchase. 

^ Kemper was one of three gigantic brothers, living in the neigh- 
boring Mississippi Territory, all of whom had previously incurred 
the displeasure of the Spanish authorities. One of them had been 
imprisoned, since which time the Spaniards had no foe more relent- 
less than the Kempers. 
3 



34 Wesi Florida. [234 

shores of Mobile bay; but, being poorly equipped, was 
compelled to defer its attack until a supply of arms and 
munitions could be procured. An agent of Kemper man- 
aged to purchase of Henri de la Francia, a citizen of Baton 
Rouge, a lot of arms,^and the convention brought a flat- 
boat load of Western produce, transferred it to a keel-boat, 
and sent it to the relief of Kemper. 

Governor Folch was completely demoralized at the dis- 
play of force made by Kemper; he wrote, December 3, to 
President Madison, imploring the Government of the 
United States to send the garrison of Fort Stoddard to 
help him "drive Reuben Kemper back to Baton Rouge," 
and to send commissioners with power to treat for the 
transfer of Mobile and the rest of the province of West 
Florida to the United States. Three days later, Claiborne 
reached St. Francisville. Kemper and his men, being with- 
out governmental authority to sustain them in their un- 
dertaking, made their way back. 

The annexation of West Florida called forth protests from 
Spain and Great Britain.' Indeed, such was the attitude 
of the latter that Congress passed secret acts authorizing 
the President to take temporary possession of East Florida 
(Jan. 15 and Mar. 3, 181 1) should England, persisting in 
the idea that there was a territorial grab game going on 
without her participation, endeavor to seize East Florida.* 



^ It is interesting to note that these same arms formed a part of the 
much-needed equipment which General Jackson, five years later, 
with difficulty collected for the defence of New Orleans agairst the 
British. 

^ " I deem it incumbent upon me," said Mr. Morier, Great Britain's 
representative at Washington, to the Secretary of the State, on the 
15th of December, "considering the strict and close alliance which 
subsists between His Majesty's Government and that of Spain, to 
express to the Government of the United States, through you, the 
deep regret with which I have seen that part of the President's mes- 
sage to Congress, in which the determination of this government to 
take possession of West Florida is avowed." (Gayarr6: Hist, of La., 
Vol. 4, p. 241.) 

^See Winsor : Nar. and Crit. Hist, of America, Vol. 7, p. 546. 



235] The Third West Florida. 35 

Indeed, in 1814, General Jackson, commanding the military 
defenses of the South in the war of 1812, was under the 
necessity of invading the Spanish province to drive British 
forces from Pensacola. 

January 22, 181 2, by act of Congress, Louisiana was ad- 
mitted to the American Union as a State. April 14 follow- 
ing, an act adding that part of West Florida lying between 
the Pearl and Mississippi rivers to Louisiana as constituted, 
was approved by the President. Thus, after many cruises 
in various jurisdictional seas, the West Florida ship of 
State finally came to permanent anchorage in undisturbed 
waters, its memory still preserved in every allusion to the 
"Florida Parishes" of Louisiana. 



Part II. 



The Madison-Livingston Theory of West 
Florida Acquirement. 



Part II. 

THE MADISON-LIVINGSTON THEORY OF WEST 
FLORIDA ACQUIREMENT. 

I. — Mr. Madison's Acceptance of Mr. Livingston's 

View. 

In the beginning of this paper reference was made to the 
fact that a number of historical works give the Hmits of 
the Louisiana purchase as extending eastward to the Per- 
dido river. The first intimation of this extension came 
from Mr. Livingston, Minister to France, who in a letter to 
Secretary of State Madison, of date May 20, 1803, exactly 
twenty days after the treaty was signed which ceded Louis- 
iana to the United States, alludes to a conversation held 
with Marbois,^ in which the latter stated as an historic! 
fact that Mobile was once a part of French Louisiana. Mr.] 
Livingston then analyzes the clause in the treaty of Ilde- 
fonso, which specifies that the Louisiana therein ceded to 
France was of "the same extent it now has in the hands 
of Spain, and which it had when France possessed it," and 
deduces therefrom an acquired right of the United States 
to the greater part of the territory of West Florida as in- 
cluded in the Louisiana purchase. He advises strongly 
that Madison adopt this view and insist upon the boun- 
daries thus extended. Madison did so, and this view be- 
came an established opinion which actuated him after he 
had become President of the United States. Either this 
view was wrongly taken, or such careful investigators as 
McMaster, Hart, and others are in error. 

' French Minister of Foreign Affairs and author of an excellent his- 
tory of Louisiana. 



40 Wesi Florida. [240 

It should be remembered that the desire of the United 
States at no time, either by popular discussion or Presi- 
dential letter of instructions, extended to the possession 
of territory west of the Mississippi river. This river was 
looked upon as a natural boundary. The acquirement of 
the Floridas and the island of New Orleans would extend 
this boundary along the whole length of the river to the 
Gulf, which was an object greatly to be desired by the 
young republic. 

Livingston was authorized to negotiate for the cession, 
by treaty or sale, to the United States of the island of New 
Orleans and the Floridas, if not East Florida at least West 
Florida. Even after the purchase of Louisiana was con- 
cluded, Monroe was instructed by Madison to continue 
and press the negotiations for the acquirement of the 
Floridas. The importance of these to the United States 
is indicated by the persistent diplomacy, covermg a period 
of more than sixteen years, which the Federal Government 
employed in holding to the idea that Florida must be ours. 

A negotiation which aimed at the acquirement of Florida 
and resulted in the acquirement of the west bank of the 
Mississippi, was a partial administrative failure. Little or 
nothing was known of the West in those days ; the frontier 
civilization had but a short time previous been moved beyond 
the Alleghanies. What was wanted, was not land beyond 
the river, but removal of the barriers which barred egress 
to the Gulf. 

Jefiferson, President when Louisiana was purchased, was 
borne into ofifice by the popularity of the principles he rep- 
resented. The continuance of his party in power depended, 
in those days of unstocked conventions and free expres- 
sion of the people's will, upon the success of the adminis- 
tration in executing the will and desires of the people. 

Secretary of State Madison was, therefore, more than 
willing to grasp at the straw of West Florida acquirement 
held out by Livingston. 



241] The Basis of Mr. Livingston' s Claim. 41 

y/ II. — The Basis of Mr. Livingston's Claim. 

An examination of the correspondence which passed 
between Livingston, while Minister to France, and Secre- 
tary of State Madison betrays unmistakably the motive 
which actuated Livingston in claiming West Florida to 
the Perdido as included in the Louisiana purchase. 

Taking up the correspondence at that point where Liv- 
ingston is not yet fully sure of the fact that Spain had 
secretly ceded Louisiana to France,^ we find him ascrib- 
ing as a reason why the French Minister will give him no 
information, the fact that a difiference exists between France 
and Spain in regard to the limits of the ceded province^ 
— whether they included the Floridas or not, France so 
-claiming, and Spain denying. He further adds in the same 
letter: "The French government had probably no doubt 
until we started it." This is a remarkable admission. The 
United States wants to know who owns West Florida. The 
mere asking suggests to France doubtful ownership. A 
-claim-all spirit manifests itself. The letter also shows Spain 
consistently maintaining her claim to Florida. This, com- 
ing between the Louisiana retrocession and purchase is 
significant. 

The correspondence then indicates some uncertainty in 
Livingston's mind as to whom he should apply in order 
to execute his commission of buying West Florida. May 
28, he presumes to Spanish Ambassador d'Azara, "the 
Floridas are not included" in the St. Ildefonso cession. 
September i,^ he has "every reason to believe the Floridas 
are not included." November 2, he writes:* "Florida is 
not, as I before told you, included in the cession." Novem- 
ber II, we find him writing:^ "In my letter to the Presi- 



^ Letter of December 10, 1801. 

' Letter of May 28, 1802. 

^ Livingston to Madison, September i, 1802. 

* Livingston to Madison, November 2, 1802. 

* Livingston to Madison. November 11, 1802. 



v/ 



42 West Florida. [242 

dent, I informed him that General Bornouville had gone 
post-haste to Spain, and that I had reason to think he had 
it in charge to obtain the Floridas." November 14, he has 
"obtained accurate information"' of the ofTer to be made by 
France for Florida.^ December 20, he writes:^ "France 
has not yet got Florida." 

At the time Livingston is thus writing to his home gov- 
ernment his positive statements in regard to France's non- 
acquirement of Florida, we find him "presuming the Flor- 
idas are in the hands of France" in a communication to the 
French Minister of Foreign Relations," and then communi- 
cating to Madison : "The Floridas, not yet ceded."* "The 
essential fact for us is that the Floridas are not yet ceded."5 
"Florida is not yet ceded, nor, as I hope, likely to be so."® 

In reading the letters of Livingston one gets an un- 
pleasant sense of helplessness displayed upon the part of 
our diplomatic representative. For more than a year his 
messages to his home government tell the monotonous 
story of nothing definitely accomplished. The presidential 
election was near at hand, and there was nothing as yet 
to report to the American people. Thus it was that the 
I halting forces of American diplomacy at Paris were re-en- 
forced and James Monroe sent as Minister Plenipotentiary 
and Envoy Extraordinary to hasten a victory. 

March 3, 1803, Livingston writes in reply to the notifi- 
cation of Monroe's appointment, just received, and wishes 
Monroe success, adding the familiar refrain "The Floridas 
are still in the hands of Spain." From the time Monroe 
reaches Paris, and becomes co-signer with Livingston of 
the letters to Madison, reporting progress, there is seen a 
radical change in the tone and spirit of these letters. Di- 

^ Livingston to Madison, November 14, 1S02. 
^ Livingston to Madison, December 20, 1802. 
' Livingston to Minister Foreign Relations, January 10, 1803. 

* Livingston to Madison, February 5, 1803. 

* Livingston to Madison, February 18, 1803. 

* Livingston to Madison, March 24, 1803. 



243] The Basis of Mr. Livmgston's Claim. 43 

rectness and "business" animate them. These qualities in 
Monroe, with the opportune time of his arrival, brought 
speedy results, for less than a month after his arrival, 
Lousiana, with its magnificent domain, passed by treaty of 
purchase to the possession of the United 'States (April 30, 
1803.) 

Monroe's appointment and the speedy conclusion of 
Louisiana cession after his arrival, was a source of chagrin 
to Livingston. He had written,^ after receiving the noti- 
fication of Monroe's appointment, and before Monroe's 
arrival in Paris, "With respect to the negotiation for Louis- 
iana, I think nothing will be effected here." His personal 
feeling in the matter is manifest in his letters of March 18, 
1803, and June 25, 1803. "I cannot but wish, sir," he 
writes in the first, "that my fellow citizens should not be 
led to believe from Mr. Monroe's appointment, that I had 
been neglectful of their interests." And in the last named 
he claims that his management and diplomacy had brought 
the French government to terms before Monroe's arrival. 

As time passed on Livingston realized that a great event 
had taken place, and that there were indications that his 
name would go down in history as taking a secondary part 
therein. Note how he holds himself up to Secretary Madi- 
son:^ "I this day got a sight of a letter from the minister, 
containing directions for giving up the country, and assign- 
ing the reason for the cession. I was much flattered to find 
their reasons drawn from the memoir I had presented." By 
November the idea that he principally had achieved the 
Louisiana purchase had so grown that we find him con- 
ceding as follows:^ "There is no doubt Mr. Monroe's 
talents and address would have enabled him, had he been 
placed in my circumstances, to have effected what I have 
done. But he came too late to do more than assent to the 



^ Livingston to President Jefferson, March 12, 1803. 
^Livingston to Madison, July 30, 1803. 
'Livingston to Madison, November 15, 1803. 



44 Wesl Florida. [244 

proposition that was made us and to aid in reducing it to 
form." This letter also refers to some feeling on the part 
of Mr. Livingston's friends that Monroe should be men- 
tioned in the papers at home as acting minister, and that 
he (Livingston) 'was not the principal agent in treating 
with France. 

The foregoing gives us the key to Mr. Livingston's sud- 
den change of conviction concerning West Florida when 
Minister Marbois intimated that Mobile was once a part 
of Colonial Louisiana. It had been and was the desire of 
the United States to acquire West Florida and the Island 
of Orleans. Monroe had assented to the purchase of Lou- 
isiana instead. If Livingston could formulate a reasonable 
theory upon which the United States could base a claim to 
West Florida the glory would be his and his alone. Per- 
haps his friends at home who were so solicitous in regard 
to his not being subordinated to Mr. Monroe, might even 
persuade a grateful people to confer upon him the highest 
honor within their gift, an honor afterwards conferred upon 
his colleague. 

To substantiate this view it will be noted that Livingston, 
at a time when official communications to the Department 
of State at Washington, from the American mission in 
Paris, were being signed by both Monroe and himself, 
writes over his own signature, and evidently without con- 
sulting his colleague, his advice to claim West Florida and 
his argument therefor. This letter bears date of May 20, 
1803, and it is not until June 7, that Monroe and Living- 
ston are jointly and officially "happy to have it in our power 
to inform you that on a thorough examination of the sub- 
ject, we consider it incontrovertible that West Florida is 
comprised in the cession of Louisiana."' 

Here is Mr. Livingston's personal letter of May 20: 

"I informed you long since that on inquiring whether 
the Floridas were within the cession of Spain, I was told 



' Monroe and Livingston to Madison, June 7, 1803. 



245] The Basis of Mr. Livingston^ s Claim. 45 

by M. Marbois he was sure that Mobile was, but could not 
answer further. I believed the information incorrect be- 
cause I understood that Louisiana as it then was, made 
the object of the cession, and that since the possession of 
the Floridas by Britain, they had changed their names. 
But the moment I saw the words of the treaty of Madrid 
I had no doubt but it included all the country that France 
possessed by the name of Louisiana previous to their ces- 
sion to Spain, except what had been conveyed by subse- 
quent treaties. I accordingly insisted with M. Marbois at 
the time we negotiated, that this would be considered as 
part of our purchase. He neither assented or denied, but 
said all they received from Spain was intended to be con- 
veyed to us. That my construction was right is fairly to 
be inferred from the words of the treaties and from a com- 
ment upon them contained in the Spanish Minister's let- 
ter to Mr. Pinckney, in which he expressly says that 
France had received Louisiana as it formerly belonged to 
her saving the rights of other Powers. This leaves no doubt 
upon the subject of the intention of the contracting parties. 
Now it is well known that Louisiana as possessed by 
France was bounded by the Perdido, and that Mobile was 
the metropolis. [ ?] For the facts relative to this I refer you 
to Raynal and to his maps. I have also seen maps here 
which put the matter out of doubt. 

"I called upon M. Marbois for a further explanation on 
this subject and to remind him of his having told me that 
Mobile made a part of the cession. He told me he had no 
precise idea on the subject, but that he knew it to be a his- 
torical fact, and that on that only he had passed his opin- 
ion. I asked him what orders had been given to the Pre- 
fect who was to take possession, or what orders had been 
given by Spain as to boundary in ceding it. He assured 
me that he did not know, but that he would make inquiry 
and let me know. At four o'clock I called for Mr. Mon- 
roe to take him to the Minister of Foreign Afifairs, but he 
was prevented from accompanying me. I asked the Minis- 
ter what were the eastern boundaries of the territory ceded 
to us. He said he did not know; we must take it as they 
had received it. I asked him how Spain meant to give 
them possession? He said according to the words of the 
treaty. But what did you mean to take? I do not know., 
Then you mean we shall construe it in our own way? I ; 
can give you no directions; you have made a noble bar— j 



46 IVesl Florida. [246 

gain for yourselves and I suppose you will make the most 
of it. 

"Now, sir, the sum of this business is, to recommend to 
jou in the strongest terms, after having obtained the pos- 
, session that the French commissary will give you, to insist 
j upon this as a part of your right, and to take possession 
' at all events to the river Perdido. I pledge myself that 
your right is good; and after the explanations that have 
been given here you need apprehend nothing from a deci- 
sive measure. Your Minister here and at Madrid can sup- 
port your claim, and the time is peculiarly favorable to en- 
able you to do it without the smallest risk at home. It may 
also be important to anticipate any designs that Britain 
may have upon that country. Should she possess herself of 
it and the war terminate favorably, she will not readily re- 
linquish it. With this in your hand East Florida will be of 
little moment and may be yours whenever you please. At 
all events proclaim your right and take possession." 

In view of the facts as previously reported by Mr. Living- 
ston that Spain denied from the first having included West 
Florida in the St.Ildefonso cession ; that France was wholly 
I in ignorance of having acquired any claim to West Florida 
until Mr. Livingston's inquiries suggested that claim be 
made ; and that France negotiated anew for the Floridas 
after the St. Ildefonso cession, thus showing France's St. 
Ildefonso claim to Florida being specious and untenable 
these facts render comment on. the letter unnecessary, par- 
ticularly as we have considered the treaty phase of the sub- 
ject in another place. 

Madison made the claim as directed, but the United 
States did not take possession of West Florida when Louis- 
iana passed into her hands. But for the successful revolt 
of the West Floridians in 1810, and their application for 
admission or annexation, the title to West Florida would 
have been an open question until 1819. As it was, the treaty 
making cession of Florida to the United States specified 
East and West Florida.' 

* This claim certainly did not impress the mind of President Jeffer- 
son very forcibly, for we find him writing, in 1809, after his retire- 



247] Successive Jurisdictional Rights to West Florida. 47 

III. — A Resume of Successive Jurisdictional Rights 
TO THE Territory of West Florida. 

The successive changes in the jurisdictional right to West 
Florida may be summarized as follows: 

1512 to 1699 Spain's by right of Discovery and Explora- 
tion. 

1699 to 1763 France's by right of Occupancy. 

1763 to 1783 England's by right of Treaty. 

1783 to 1810 Spain's by right of Conquest. 

1810 (Sept. 26) to 1810 (Oct. 27) Independent by Declar- 
ation and Revolt. 

1810 (Oct. 27) to 1812 (April 14) United States Territory 
by Annexation. 

181 2 (April 14) to .... Louisiana's by Act of Congress. 

The original right of Spain to the Gulf coast by discovery 
and exploration cannot be gainsaid. But discovery only fur- 
nishes an inchoate title to possession in the discoverer. '^ 
■Grotius, Puffendorf and Pothier all agree that to complete 
title, the right to the thing and the possession of the thing 
should be united. Spain united her right to Florida with 
her possession of Florida when she established permanent 
settlements at St. Augustine (1565) and at Pensacola 
(1699). 

When France laid claim to the lower Mississippi Valley, ' 
her title was a questionable one. The region had already '■•' 
been discovered, explored and claimed. Her right could • 

ment : " [Bonaparte] would give us the Floridas to withhold inter- 
course with the residue of those [the Spanish] colonies. But that is 
no price ; because they are ours in the first moment of the first war ; 
and until a war, they are of no particular necessity to us . . ." This 
is a virtual acknowledgment, by one preeminently qualified to know, 
that the acquirement of the Floridas was a matter for future con- 
sideration, and that neither one of the Floridas had come into pos- 
session of the United States by the Louisiana purchase. See John 
T. Morse, Jr.? Thomas Jefferson, p. 322. (American Statesmen 
Series. ) 
^ Phillimore : International Law, Vol. i, p. 268. J 



48 Wgst Florida. [248 

have been set aside at any time, as it subsequently was by 
England in the Ohio Valley, had her national strength not 
been such as to preclude a weaker nation such as Spain 
from successfully resisting encroachment. Long years of 
undisturbed occupancy bettered France's claim. 

When France, Spain, and Great Britain were made par- 
ties to the treaty 1763, which ceded Louisiana to Spain and 
Florida to Great Britain, valid title by possession of her 
part of the ceded territory was acquired by Great Britain 
at once (1763). 

Spain failed to make good by occupancy her title until 
1769, when O'Reilly took formal possession. For six years, 
therefore, the Louisiana as France possessed it, and as 
"^ Spain received it, included no territory between the Miss- 
issippi and Perdido rivers. 

P In 1779-81 Spain acquired West Florida, as well as East 
\J I Florida by right of conquest, confirmed by treaty of 1783. 

'By no logical process of reasoning can it be shown that 
Spain's independent title to West Florida thus acquired 
should be included in Spain's previously acquired title to 
Louisiana and the island of New Orleans. 

Unquestionably France's title to Louisiana reacquired by 
the secret treaty of St. Ildefonso was invalidated by her fail- 
ure to return the promised consideration. Contracts be- 
tween nations should be held as inviolable as contracts be- 
tween individuals, and the fact that no tribunal exists to ad- 
minister international justice and compel nations to act in 
conformity with moral law and international rights, is no 
reason why historians should side with might in error 
as against right in misfortune.^ 

^ It has sometimes been said that there can be no laws between 
nations, because they acknowledge no common superior authority, 
no international executive capable of enforcing the precepts of inter- 
national law. 

This confounds two distinct things, viz.: the physical sanction 
which law derives from being enforced by superior power, and the 
moral sanction conferred on it by the fundamental principle of right. 

International justice would not be less deserving of that appella- 



249] Successive Jurisdictional Rights to West Florida. 49 

Spain's weakness prevented her from doing more than 
protest against the bad faith which actuated Napoleon in 
seUing Louisiana. This she did.' But however unheeded 
went this protest, Spain upheld her claim to the Floridas 
and consistently insisted from beginning to end of the ter- 
ritorial controversy with the United States that no just 
interpretation of the St. Ildefonso treaty and of its resultant 
Louisiana purchase treaty would include any part of West 
Florida in the Louisiana retroceded to France and sold by 
that nation to the United States. 

Article III of the St. Ildefonso treaty, secretly concluded 
October i, 1800, reads as follows:-' 

"His Catholic majesty promises and engages on his part, 
to cede to the French Republic, six months after the full 
and entire execution of the conditions and stipulations 
herein relative to his royal highness the Duke of Parma, 
the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same extent 
that it has now in the hands of Spain, and that it had when 
France possessed it; and such as it should be after the 
treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and the 
other States." 

The '^extent that it nozv has in the hands of Spain" did not 
mean to include West Florida, for the latter was separate 
from Louisiana in the Spanish mind; and in governmental 
ordinances and treaties the Floridas are always specified 
as distinct from Louisiana, Cuba and other Spanish pos- 
sessions.' "And that it had when France possessed it." 
When France possessed it between 1763 and 1769, as we 



lion if the sanctions of it were wholly incapable of being enforced. 
(Phillimore : Commentaries upon International Law, Vol. i, p. 75.) 

^Letters of September 4 and September 27, 1S03, from Marquis de 
Casa Yrujo, Minister of Spain, to Secretary Madison, hold that (i) 
France had renounced right of alienating the acquired territory ; (2) 
had neglected to carry out provisions of the St. Ildefonso treaty in 
regard to the Duke of Parma. 

^ Martens : Recueil de Trait^s, Vol. 10, p. 467. 

•'' Galvez held the commission of Governor-General of Cuba, the 
Floridas and Louisiana. 
4 



50 IVesi Florida. [250 

have seen, it did not include West Florida. "And such as 
it should be after the treaties subsequently entered into be- 
tiueen Spain and other States." Spain entered into no treaty 
with other States relative to Louisiana until she ceded it 
back to France in 1800. She had. however, entered into 
two treaties in regard to the Floridas; one with England, 
acquiring possession of them (1783), and the other with 
the United States, fixing their northern boundary (1795). 

The Louisiana ceded to Spain by France, and retroceded 
by Spain to France, did not extend to the Perdido river. 
The only territory east of the Mississippi river included 
in the Louisiana transferred and retransferred, was the tri- 
angular portion extending from Bayou Manchac and the 
lakes, down the east bank of the Mississippi to its mouth, 
and known as the Island of Orleans. 

No better argument can be made to support this state- 
ment than the unanswerable letter of Tallyrand here ap- 
pended. Monroe had written Tallyrand under date of Nov. 
8, 1804, to invoke his support in the cause of the United 
States in its claim to West Florida, as Tallyrand was fully 
conversant with facts connected with the secret St. Ilde- 
fonso treaty.^ Tallyrand replies as follows: 

"France, in giving up Louisiana to the United States, 
transferred to them all the rights over that territory which 
she had acquired from Spain. She covild not nor did she 
wish to cede any other; and that no room might be left for 
doubt in this respect, she repeated in her treaty of 30th of 
April, 1803, the literal expression of the treaty of St. Ilde- 
fonso, by which she had acquired that colony two years 
i before. Nor was it stipulated in her treaty of the year 

1 While the general reputation of Tallyrand would cause one to 
hesitate before ascribing to any utterance of his undue weight, yet 
the letter cited bears every mark of sincerity, and may well be taken 
as strong corroborative testimony. J. L. M. Curry maintains that 
this letter decidedly weakened the contention of the United States 
that Louisiana, as purchased, extended to the Perdido river. See 
Curry: "Acquisition of Florida", Magazine of American History, for 
April, 1888. 



251] Sticcessive Jurisdictional Rights to West Florida. 51 

i8oi that the acquisition of Louisiana by France was a 
retrocession: that is to say that Spain restored to France 
what she had received from her in 1762. At that period 
she had received the territory bounded on the east by the 
Mississippi, the river Iberville, the lakes Maurepas and 
Pontchartrain: the same day France ceded to England by 
the preliminaries of peace, all the territory to the eastward. 
Of this Spain had received no part and could therefore give 
back none to France. 

"All the territory lying to the eastward of the Mississippi 
and south of the 32d degree of north latitude bears the 
name of Florida. It has been constantly designated in that 
way during the time that Spain held it: it bears the same 
name in the treaties of limits between Spain and the United 
States : and in different notes of Mr. Livingston of a later 
date than the treaty of retrocession in which the name of 
Louisiana is given to the territory on the west side of the 
Mississippi: of Florida to that on the east side of it. 

"According to this designation thus consecrated by time 
even prior to the period when Spain began to possess the 
whole territory between the 31st degree, the Mississippi, 
and the sea, the country ought in good faith and justice 
to be distinguished from Louisiana. 

"Your Excellency knows that before the preliminaries of 
1762, confirmed by the treaty of 1763 the French posses- 
sions situated near the Mississippi extended as far from 
the east of this river toward the Ohio and Illinois as in the 
quarter of Mobile ; and you must think it as unnatural, after 
all the changes of sovereignty which that part of America 
has undergone to give the name of Louisiana to the Mobile 
district as to territory more to the north of it, on the same 
bank of the river, which formerly belonged to France. 

"These observations, sir, will be sufficient to dispel every 
kind of doubt with regard to the extent of the retrocession 
made by Spain to France in the month Vendemiaire, year 
9. It was under this impression that the Spanish and 
French Plenipotentiaries negotiated and it was under this 
impression that I have since had occasion to give the ne- 
cessary explanations when a project was formed to take 
possession of it. I have laid before his Imperial Majesty 
the negociations of Madrid which preceded the treaty of 
1 80 1 and his Majesty is convinced that during the whole 
course of these negociations, the Spanish Government has 
constantly refused to cede any part of the Floridas, even 
from the Mississippi to Mobile. 



52 Wesf Florida. [252 

"His Imperial Majesty has, moreover, authorized me to 
declare to you that at the beginning of the year II, Gen. 
Bournouville was charged to open a new negociation with 
Spain for the acquisition of the Floridas. His project which 
has not been followed by any treaty is an evident proof that 
France had not acquired by the treaty retroceding Louis- 
iana the country east of the Mississippi." 

Future contributors to the history and cartography of the 
United States will do well to investigate the subject as out- 
lined in this paper, and by way of suggestion a map is 
appended indicating the corrections to be made in maps 
showing acquirements of territory by the United States, if 
the views set forth in this paper be found substantially cor- 
rect. 



CHRONOLOGY. 

1 5 12 De Leon discovers Florida. 

1 5 19 Pineda explores coast of West Florida. 

1528 De Narvaez invades Florida. 

1539-41 De Soto's expedition. 

1565 Spanish settle St. Augustine. 

1682 La Salle takes possession of the lower Mississippi 

Valley. 
1699 Spanish settle Pensacola. 

French settle Biloxi. 
1716 Fort Rosalie (Natchez) established. 
1718 New Orleans founded. 
1755 War between France and England in America begins. 

1762 Preliminary Treaty between Great Britain, France, 

and Spain. (Nov. 3.) 

1763 Treaty of Paris. Louisiana ceded to Spain; the Flor- 

idas to England. (Feb. 10.) 
Proclamation of George III constituting province of 
West Florida. (Oct. 7.) Johnstone, Governor. 

1764 Louis XV. commissions M. d'Abadie to deliver Lou- 

isiana to the Spanish representative. (April 21.) 

1766 UUoa arrives in Louisiana to take possession for 

Spain. (Mar. 5.) Fails to do so. 

1767 Great Britain establishes 32° 28' as the northern 

boundary of West Florida. Elliott, Governor. 

1769 O'Reilly takes possession of Louisiana for Spain. 

1770 Peter Chester becomes Governor of West Florida. 
1775 War between England and the English colonies 

in America begins. 

1777 France allies herself with America. 

1778 Willing's raid into West Florida. 



54 Chronology. [254 

1779 Spain declares war against Great Britain. 

Galvez, Governor of Louisiana invades West Florida; 
captures Fort Bute. (Sept. 7.) 

1780 Galvez captures Ft. Charlotte (Mobile.) (Mar. 14.) 

1781 Galvez captures the English Fort at Pensacola. (May 

9-) 
1783 Treaty of Paris. The Floridas ceded by Great Britain 

to Spain. 
1795 Treaty between Spain and the United States. 31st 
parallel decided upon as the boundary line be- 
tween the United States and the Floridas. 
1800 Secret Treaty of St. Ildefonso. Louisiana retroceded 

to France. (Oct. 7.) 
1803 Treaty ceding Louisiana to the United States signed. 
(April 30.) United States takes possession of 
Louisiana and the Island of New Orleans. (Dec. 
20.) 
1810 Convention of Buhler's Plains, West Florida. (June 
10.) 
Memorial to Gov. De Lassus by citizens of West Fla. 
Convention of Baton Rouge. (Aug. 22-25.) 
Treachery of De Lassus discovered. (Sept. 20.) 
Spanish Post of Baton Rouge stormed and captured. 

(Sept. 22.) 
Independence of West Florida declared. (Sept. 26.) 
West Florida between the Mississippi and Pearl rivers 
annexed to the United States upon petition of the 
West Florida revolters. President's proclamation 
issued. (Oct. 27.) - 

1812 Louisiana admitted to the Union. (Jan. 22.) An- 

nexed territory of West Florida joined to the 
State of Louisiana by Act of Congress. (April 14.) 
Pearl-Perdido portion annexed to Mississippi 
Territory. 

1813 United States takes possession of the Mobile district 

of West Florida. (April 15.) 



255] Chronology. 55 

1819 Florida cession treaty concluded with Spain. (Feb. 

22.) 

1820 King of Spain ratifies Florida cession treaty. (Oct. 

1821 Cession of the Floridas proclaimed. (Feb. 22.) 
Formal transfer of the Floridas to the United States. 

(July 170 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Reference, authorities, and sources of information consulted in the 
preparation of the foregoing monograph : 

1. " History of the United States during Jefferson's Administra- 
tion." "History of the United States during Madison's Adminis- 
tration." By Henry Adams. 

2. American State Papers, Vol. Ill (Land Claims), Vol. II (For- 
eign Relations). 

3. "Statistical Atlas and Gazetteer of the United States." By 
Asher and Adams. 

4. " History of the French Consulate." By Barre. 

5. " Calendar of Letters, Dispatches and State Papers relating to 
the Negotiations between England and Spain." By Berganroth. 

6. " Spanish America ; or, A Description of the Dominion of Spain 
in the Western Hemisphere." 1819. By Sir R. H. Bonnycastle. 

7. " Recueil de Trait^s de la France, 1713-1880." By A. J. H. de 
Clercq . 

8. " Expos^ des Moyens Employes par I'Empereur Napoleon pour 
usurper la Couronne d'Espagne." 1814. By Cervallos. 

9. De Bow's Review: Vol. XXIV ("Romantic History of Flor- 
ida;" by Fairbanks). Vol. II, n. s. ("Florida: Past, Present and 
Future ;" byStickney). 

10. " Narative of Expedition into Florida." (French's Historical 
Collection, Vol. II.) By De Soto. 

11. " History of France." By Duruy. 

12. " Historical Summary and Geographical Account of the Early 
Voyages and Explorations of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic 
Coast of Florida by the French and Spaniards." By French. 

13. " History of Florida." By Fairbanks. 

14. " Some of the Causes and Conditions which brought about the 
West Florida Revolution of 1810." (Part II, La. Historical Society 
Publication.) By H. L. Favrot. 



58 Bibliography. [258 

15. " History of Louisiana." By Gayarr6. 

16. "Memoirs." 1836. By Godoy. 

17. " Cours Politique et Diplomatique de Napoleon Buonaparte: 
ou, recueil de Trait^s etc depuis 1796 et jusqu' a 1815." By L. 
Goldsmith (editor). 

18. " Formation of the Union." " Epoch maps in American His- 
tory." By A. B. Hart. 

19. " Historical Journal, or Narrative of the Expedition made by 
order of Louis XIV to Colonize Louisiana." (French's Historical 
Collection, 2nd series.) By Lemoyne d'Iberville. 

20. Jean Baptiste LeMoyne, Sieur de Bienville. ("Makers of 
America" Series.) "New Orleans: The Place and the People." 
By Grace King. 

21. " History of England in the Eighteenth Century." By Lecky. 

22. "Memoir." (French Historical Collection, Vol. L) By 
LaSalle. 

23. " Historical Journal of the Establishment of the French in. 
Louisiana." By La Harpe. 

24. " Historical Atlas." By Labberton. 

25. " History of Mississippi." By Lowry and McCardle. 

26. " Recueil de Trait^s" (Vol. 1). By Martin. 

27. " Decouvertes et etablissments des Francais dans I'ouest et 
dans le sud de I'Amerique Septentrionelle, 1614-1703. (Paris.) By 
Margry. 

28. " Historical Geography of the United States." By MacCoun. 

29. " Histoire de la Louisiane." By Marbois. 

30. " History of the People of the United States." By McMaster. 

31. " History of Louisiana." By Martin. 

32. Miscellaneous Documents, House of Representatives, 2nd 
Session, 47th Congress (The Public Domain). 

33. " MSS. Narrative of West Florida revolt, compiled from docu- 
mentary and traditional sources." By Henry Skipwith, Esq., of 
Clinton, Louisiana. 

34. Niles' Register, Vol. XVI, "The Cession of Florida." Vol. 
XVIII, "The Seizure of Florida." Vol. XXII, "The Florida 
Treaty." 

35. " Treatise on International Law. " By Phillimore. 



/ 



259] Bibliography. 59 

36. " Law of Nations." By Pufifendorf. 

37. " History of Alabama." Charleston, 1851. By Pickett. 

38. Vol. XVII, "Spain and Her Colonies." 1817. Quarterly 
Review. 

39. "Memoir of the Importance of Establishing a Colony in 
Louisiana." (French's Historical Collections, ist Series.) By 
Remonville. 

.40. "Memoir on the Natchez War." (French's Historical Col- 
lection, Vol. II.) By Richbourg. 

41 . " Remarks on the Cession of the Floridas to the United States. ' ' 
1819. By Rattenbury. 

42. "Speech in Congress relative to Public Lands in the Florida 
Parishes of Louisiana." (Appendix to ist Session of the 50th 
Congress.) By Hon. S. W. Robertson. 

43. " Pioneer Sketches of East Feliciana. " By Henry Skipwith. 

44. "Historical Journal." (French's Historical Collections, ist 
Series.) By Sauvolle. 

45. " History of Hernando De Soto and Florida." Philadelphia, 
1881. By Shipp. 

46. "Memoir on the Discovery of the Mississippi River." By 
Sieur de Tonty. 

47. " Narrative and Critical History of America." (Vols. II and 
V. ) By Winsor. 

48. "Statistical Atlas of the United States. 1874. By F. A. 
Walker. 

49. "A Short-lived American State." By H. E. Chambers (Maga- 
zine of American History for Jan., 1892). 



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